Reliance JioPhone gets Google Maps with the latest firmware update

Last year, a feature phone launched on Jio and its called the Reliance JioPhone. This phone runs KaiOS, a community-sourced successor to what would have been FireFox OS. Along with KaiOS, the phone has W-Fi, LTE, VoLTE, GPS, and some capacity to run apps.

Of course, there is no Play Store on the JioPhone, apps arrive via software updates and the most recent update to the JioPhone brings Google Maps. Gadgets 360 was able to get the update done and the Google Maps app installed.

Given that the JioPhone has a very small 2.4-inch display, you can imagine that the interface is quite minimal. The options are: Search, Show map, Your location, Drive, Two-wheeler, Train or bus, Walk, Map layers, and About. Navigating is as easy as entering the address and tapping on the address or place youre looking for.

Source: Gadgets 360

Although it has a simple interface, this is still a big deal towards making navigation accessible to the masses in India. The JioPhone is one that you can get basically for free from the carrier and although its a feature phone, it can run the most essential smartphone apps.

In fact, Facebook was added to the phone not long ago. In addition, Google Assistant, WhatsApp, and YouTube are all coming to KaiOS. These apps will be available once the JioPhone 2 becomes available for purchase. The JioPhone 2 looks a lot like an older BlackBerry with its full QWERTY keyboard.